Wednesday, Apr 03, 2002
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Cricket
By Our Sports Reporter
East Zone's Debang Gandhi, who made 125, hoists Vijay Bharadwaj for a six as South Zone skipper M.S.K. Prasad watches, on the first day of their Duleep Trophy match in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The shadows were busy creeping up the turf when Debang Gandhi switched on his walkman in the dressing room. Earlier, he had played a slow and steady tune while making 125 (293m, 190b, 19x4, 1x6). Debang stamped his authority, though belatedly after facing 170 deliveries, by using his feet and hoisting Vijay Bharadwaj's off-break past long-off. A reprieve on 45 with M.S.K. Prasad grassing the snick off Watekar, made Debang adopt a cautious approach. The emphasis was on singles and boundaries also came through on-drives and square cuts whenever the bowlers erred in length. The visitor had a perfect start as Parag Das (78) and Debang made 127 in 24 overs. Parag was the dominant partner, and showed his appetite for runs with a backfoot forcing shot and an on-drive off Madhukar. He showed a penchant for the on-side though it was a classy square-drive off seamer M.R. Shrinivas which brough his fifty. He whipped Watekar twice past midwicket, but a few overs later the off-spinner exacted revenge with a straighter one that rattled the timber. East had a hearty lunch score of 139 for one while skipper Prasad found his dream of early strikes unrealised. In the afternoon session, East continued in the same vein thanks to the 82-run second-wicket partnership between Debang and Rashmi Ranjan Parida (41). The duo took the score to 209 when South struck. Parida's bid to clear the covers off left-arm spinner S. Sriram proved fatal. Hemang Badani, at covers, did well to jump and stretch his hands. As the ball grazed his palms and ricocheted, Madhukar, running in from mid-off, flung to his left and effected a reflex catch that pumped some adrenaline into his teammates. Debang's next couple of partners — skipper Sanjay Raul and Subhomoy Das — never cashed in on their starts. Gandhi, meanwhile, had a restless tea break, hovering on 99, before flicking Bharadwaj to fine-leg to reach the coveted mark. He perished later, chipping Watekar down mid-wicket's throat. The last session witnessed more runs as Rajeev Kumar Raja repeatedly touched the cover fence while southpaw Zakaria Zufri stole singles. The South spearhead Dodda Ganesh looked travel weary, having reached Bangalore only in the wee-hours of Tuesday after playing in Bangkok for his firm, Indian Airlines. The lack of sleep obviously showed on the field. Ganesh's partner, Madhukar, remained erratic while Shrinivas, who tried hard, exposed Debang's weakness against the short-pitched stuff, earlier done by McGrath Down Under. Spinners Sriram and Watekar got wickets but a flat trajectory, often directed at the leg-stump, indicated South's mental state. The scores: East Zone — 1st innings: Parag Das b Watekar 78, Debang Gandhi c Bharadwaj b Watekar 125, R.R. Parida c Madhukar b Sriram 41, Sanjay Raul c Powar b Sriram 10, Subhomoy Das lbw b Watekar 20, Rajeev Kumar Raja (batting) 35, Zakaria Zufri (batting) 16; Extras (b-1, lb-3, nb-12) 16; Total 341 for five. Fall of wickets: 1-127, 2-209, 3-225, 4-283, 5-294. South Zone bowling: Ganesh 15-4-53-0, Madhukar 7-0-60-0, Shrinivas 11-0-52-0, Sriram 31-6-75-2, Watekar 21-2-78-3, Bharadwaj 5-0-19-0.
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